they're against barack obama. so whatever they have to say, you know, it's about their goals to get rid of the president. mitt romney is but a secondary thought, but, you know, if it excites the base to come out to vote against the president, then that works to romney's benefit. >> i put it a little differently. i think a lot of the folks on the right are treating this as a referendum election where you can talk about unemployment and attack barack obama, and that is a model that can work against incumbents during bad economic times. the problem for them is that mitt romney is starting to drop below the threshold of a credible challenger. when that happens in politics, you have to go back to explaining why is this person credible. are they up for the job, and that's what you see. it's something you've mentioned before and the net negative ratings for this nominee, the worst since any candidate since '88 when pew was taking those numbers. >> 50% unfavorable. >> exactly. when you get into that territory, you can't j